2-year-old pelted 9 times by paintballs in North Carolina yard, mother says

A mother said her 2-year-old daughter was pelted nine times last week with paintballs while they were outside their Charlotte home. (WSOC)

2-year-old pelted 9 times by paintballs in North Carolina yard, mother says

A mother said her 2-year-old daughter was pelted nine times last week with paintballs while they were outside their Charlotte home. (WSOC)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A mother said her 2-year-old daughter was pelted nine times last week with paintballs while they were outside their Charlotte home, WSOC reports.

The 2-year-old had marks all over her body after someone fired paintballs at her.

Paintball wars have been gaining national traction since the beginning of the year and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it has received more than 150 calls since Jan. 1 involving paintball gun complaints.

The mother, who did not want to be identified, said it was a traumatizing moment for her and her daughter.

“She was screaming so bad,” the mother said. “She said, ‘Mommy help me, mommy help me.’ That killed me. When I saw her with paint all over her shirt and her pants, my heart dropped.”

The mother said she found welts on her daughter’s chest, back, knees and legs. She said that a group of men was shooting each other on her property earlier last week.

“I heard one of them say that’s their way to, instead of attacking themselves with guns, they’re going to do it like that because that’s how they get the anger out of them,” the mother said.

The woman said she’s not against people using paintball guns to hash things out, but it shouldn’t jeopardize anyone else’s safety.

She filed a police report, and days later, she said her car was hit twice with paintballs.

CMPD investigated the incident and arrested 17-year-old Keon Jaquez Broughton, who is facing charges for causing a disturbance, assaulting a child and resisting an officer.

The mother said her daughter has been seeing a counselor to get over her fear of being outside.